


something about us

by miiniwa



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 23:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12119811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miiniwa/pseuds/miiniwa
Summary: Well into the afternoon, with the scent of spring pressing gently against his senses, Mao is finishing up his paperwork for the day.He yawns, paperclipping everything together before stretching his arms out, thinking that maybe it would have been better if he had taken at least intermittent breaks rather than doing his work all at once.But, well— He shrugs, looking over his shoulder at the clock.He should still be here, he tells himself, standing up from his seat.





	something about us

**Author's Note:**

> 90% of the time i'm like 'ritsumao is perfect and in love and they've been married for like four years already,' and the rest of the time i'm just 'ritsumao with actual couple problems because they're just two teenage boys in love and that's OKAY' ahhhh
> 
> *this fic has mao and ritsu in their third year

Well into the afternoon, with the scent of spring pressing gently against his senses, Mao is finishing up his paperwork for the day.

 

He yawns, paperclipping everything together before stretching his arms out, thinking that maybe it would have been better if he had taken at least intermittent breaks rather than doing his work all at once.

 

_ But, well _ — He shrugs, looking over his shoulder at the clock.

 

_ He should still be here _ , he tells himself, standing up from his seat.

 

Even an hour after school, it’s somewhat difficult for Mao to walk around without being stopped by a few students, either asking questions about upcoming events or complaining about some kind of school rule.

 

‘It’s because you’re actually reliable as a school president,’ Hokuto had told him, when Mao had decided to express his thoughts about it all, and after that, he had decided to try and be grateful about everyone’s opinions towards him.

 

Even so, for today, he treads around carefully, making sure not to be spotted by large groups of students, because this time around, he’s somewhat exhausted.

 

_ I can’t find him anywhere _ , Mao frowns, hand briefly coming up to his forehead, as if it’ll bring him any other ideas, because as far as he knows, he had checked through all of Ritsu’s most frequent napping places.

 

_ Unless we just missed each other _ , Mao considers, wondering if maybe he should just go home or not.

 

He sighs, glancing up before he realizes that Koga is walking a few paces ahead of him, and that, by some lucky chance, he might know where Ritsu is.

 

“Oogami,” Mao calls out, jogging towards him as he turns around.

 

“Have you seen Ritsu?” He questions, stepping over to the side.

 

“Huh? Oh, it’s about that annoying vampire’s little brother. It sucks that I ended up in the same class as him again,” Koga says, a clear scowl on his face.

 

“Anyway, he’s most likely taking a nap in the light music room again. He’s been hanging around there a lot lately,” he tells him, sighing, as Mao frowns.

 

“Ritsu has?” Mao asks, mostly perplexed.

 

“Yeah. Thanks to that, he keeps getting in my way,” Koga huffs, sticking his hands into his pockets, before he raises a brow.

 

“Aren’t you two sort of really close?” Koga points out, no ulterior motives behind it, and Mao presses his lips into a straight line, chest suddenly feeling constricted, somehow.

 

“Something like that,” Mao replies, a small smile on his face.

 

“Anyway, thanks,” Mao says, deciding that he should try not to let the sharp feeling spread through his chest, although he knows that none of it is Koga’s fault.

 

He makes his way over to the light music club room, wondering if he really is there. Somehow, he can’t quite picture him sleeping there, in the usually dark room by himself, and Mao wonders if it’s simply because it had become one of Ritsu’s more recent napping spots, or if it has to do with some deeper sense of unfamiliarity.

 

He frowns to himself, shaking his head, because he doesn’t want to feel doubtful about any of it; Ritsu, or whatever their relationship had ended up being.

 

Mao enters the light music club room without hesitating, mostly to prove himself wrong, before he spots Ritsu situated quietly on top of his school blazer, back turned towards him.

 

He closes the door before walking towards him, and even though it’s a situation he’s been in hundreds of times before — waking up Ritsu after finding him asleep somewhere after school — something feels different, almost off.

 

_ I wonder why _ , he glances off to the side.

 

_ Why does it feel like I’m knowing less and less about you? _

 

_ Ricchan. _

 

The usual tired sigh and the usual small, knowing smile doesn’t pass, and he sits down next to him, because ever since starting their third year, the distance between them, albeit small, had started to become more pronounced.

 

_ What should I do? _

 

“Maa-kun?”

 

Mao almost flinches, caught off guard by Ritsu’s voice, taking the few seconds that Ritsu uses to tiredly sit up as his leeway to calm himself down.

 

“I thought it was you,” Ritsu says, nodding to himself, eyes still slightly blurry, and even though he’s right in front of him, Mao still can’t shake off the constricted feeling in his chest.

 

“You were awake?” Mao remarks, helping him up.

 

“Barely,” Ritsu yawns, taking hold of the blazer that Mao hands him.

 

“Is it time to go home already?” Ritsu questions, rubbing at his eyes.

 

“Yeah, let me just get my bag from the student council room,” Mao tells him, just then remembering that he had left it there.

 

“I’ll wait for you at the entrance, Maa-kun,” Ritsu replies, dragging his feet, before he stops at the door, with Mao right behind him, brow raised.

 

“Ritsu, what is it? You’re blocking my way, you know,” Mao says, poking at his back, and he isn’t quite ready for when Ritsu looks at him over his shoulder, a soft smile on his face.

 

“You always find me, in the end,” Ritsu comments, before he finally walks out the door, leaving Mao to his thoughts.

 

Mao frowns, mostly because he still feels doubtful and worried and guilty about it all, before he thinks about what Ritsu had just told him — along with the feelings those words hold — and he decides that for now, that smile is reassuring enough.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

_ Even when I’m not at school, I have a ton of stuff to do _ , Mao frowns, seated in the chair in his room, thinking that he’s spent a lot of time sitting in front of paperwork lately.

 

He stares at his desk, mentally checking off all the things he has to finish within that day, most of which include household chores, and he sighs.

 

_ Washing my bed sheets happens to be one of them today, but I can’t really do that right now _ , he thinks, glancing over at Ritsu, who has been situated and asleep on his bed since noon.

 

“Ritsu, shouldn’t you be studying for your test tomorrow?” Mao calls out, calmly returning back to his own homework.

 

He hears the rustle of his blanket as Ritsu sits up, with soft, small yawns just barely audible.

 

“Hm? How does Maa-kun know stuff like that?” Ritsu asks, as Mao frowns, just then realizing that throughout the past couple weeks, he had become unexpectedly more friendly with Koga, with him occasionally — and subtly casually — asking things about Ritsu.

 

_ I tried not to let it end up being a complex _ , Mao furrows his brows, trying not to think about words such as distance, detachment, or ‘falling out.’

 

Even with Ritsu seated so close to him, just a few feet away in proximity, Mao can’t help but feel an unusual sense of loneliness, and he realizes at that moment that that had probably been the painfully nagging feeling he had been experiencing for those few weeks.

 

It had been stupid of him in the first place, he thinks, to assume that Ritsu would be incapable of doing things without him, that he would be unable to form bonds with others without his help.

 

“You haven’t become a stalker or anything, have you?” Ritsu questions, pulling Mao out his thoughts, and he sighs, swiveling his chair around.

 

“That’s not”— He stops, unaware that Ritsu had placed himself right behind him.

 

“Maa-kun, you overthink things too much,” Ritsu tells him, eyes quietly wavering.

 

“That’s always been your bad habit,” Ritsu continues, a small smile on his face, as Mao tugs on his hand and pulls him closer, for reasons that should be obvious to just themselves.

 

“Want to talk about it?” Ritsu asks, calmly sitting down on the small space that Mao leaves next to him on the chair, leaning against his shoulder on instinct.

 

“After you finish studying,” Mao replies, gently nudging him before he passes him his textbook.

 

“And well, it’s mostly your fault, but”— Mao pauses, briefly appreciating the undeniably confused look on Ritsu’s face.

 

“Thanks, Ricchan,” he tells him, grinning, and Ritsu raises a brow, wary at being blamed and thanked at the same time.

 

“I’m just trying to study, Maa-kun,” Ritsu eventually says, hiding his smile beneath his sleeve.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mao sighs, nudging him again, this time, leaving no space in between them.

**Author's Note:**

> these two saved each other and then saved me
> 
> ((sorry if there are any weird mistakes, also i wasn't really sure how to end it but that's probably obvious))
> 
> https://twitter.com/kuuroken


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